Adnil827 Shoots The 3-Gun Nation Southwest Regional
Thumbnail of Video Highlights:
Stage 1:
Day Two:
Stage 4:
Stage 5:
Stage 7:
Stage 6:
Monday, May 16, 2016
3 Gun Nation: Why Not? My Thoughts
3 Gun Nation: Why Not? My Thoughts
The 2016 Southwest Regional was my first full experience with a 3-Gun Nation match. Last year I went and spent both days at the match with Jay Carillo, so I got to see a match, but there is a pretty big difference in seeing and shooting a match. I joined 3-Gun Nation in winter 2014, when I was thinking about getting into 3-Gun. I did not know a ton about the organization, but I thought it was kind of like a USPSA of the 3-Gun crowd. When it comes to pistol, I've seen IDPA matches, and USPSA matches, but I don't see many "outlaw" matches other than some Pro-AM events that pop up for cash prizes from time to time. My point being, most pistol seems to affiliate with an organization that provides rules, and some basic structure, so in theory a match you shoot in South Carolina has the same rules as Illinois, as Texas and so on. I did not realize that much of 3-Gun in fact operates under and "outlaw" structure, with there being all different set's of rules. As it turns out, I like some of the other set's rules a little better, especially in terms of scoring, but I had a very unpleasant experience this weekend, that has me really considering if I'll ever spend another dollar on 3-Gun Nation membership, or on one of their matches, or if I'll just go shoot outlaw matches.
While I complimented the way 3-Gun Nation was able to handle all the shooters who were there on Sunday, especially down three stages. In the past, I've talked to other people who have felt that 3-Gun Nation gave preference or special treatment to certain Pro Shooters, but I dismissed an awful lot of that. This weekend changed my mind, and not in a good way.
On Saturday, I chose not to shoot my first stage, and I fully expected to zero it, and I was willing to take that, because safety comes first. When we made our way to shoot our 2nd stage, and I was the last shooter wrapping up around 8:30ish in the dark, and taking a bad score in some part because I could not see painted black steel targets, and long, low targets in the dark. (Not the only reasons, but it did not help) I left the range disappointed, as the e-mail's from 3-Gun Nation started to come in, they let us know 3 Stages had to be pulled, they sent an adjusted schedule, and finally a new squad matrix. For some reason, we were assigned to the same stage we finished on, and I was convinced it was a mistake. Rather, I was convinced it was a mistake until I realized that 10 of the 13 shooters ran it on Saturday night, but 3 Pro Shooters never even came to the stage, they chose to leave the range after they shot the first stage. My impression was that it seemed like they were picking and choosing when they would shoot, and under what conditions, and that thought did not make me a happy camper.
Part of that was shooting order, our squad had elected to go alphabetical by first letter of first name. Conveniently, B.J., Jansen, and Andy all come before, Linda, Luke, and Ursula (who happened to be the last 3 shooters that night, and suffered the most from darkness. In fact had those 3 shown up, they would have shot, and Linda, Ursula, and I would not have been allowed to shoot, we would have been able to shoot the stage the next day, with a full night for the range to dry, and having the benefit of daylight.) When I realized what had happened, I changed my mind about Stage 7, and suddenly I was not willing to take a zero on it, if pro shooters can pick and choose when they are going to shoot, why not me? Or aren't the rules applied equally to everyone?
On Sunday morning, I approached Charles Sole, who is the 3-Gun Nation Club Series Director. I wanted to ask for a couple of things, I wanted a re-shoot of Stage 1 because of darkness, and I wanted to be able to shoot Stage 7. I realized I would not get both, so I decided to insure that I would be allowed to shoot Stage 7, so that's how I tailored my approach. I asked him why we were assigned to Stage 1 since our squad had shot it the night before, and was that perhaps a mistake. He told me that not everyone in our squad had scores, so it was correct, and I told him that everyone who showed up for the stage did in fact shoot it, and I asked why the other folks never showed up. He did not directly answer, just told me that we were on Stage 1. At that point I told him that I did not shoot stage 7, because I slipped on walk thru and did not feel safe the night before. After a bit of a debate, where I asked why pro shooters were able to choose to not shoot an assigned stage in sub optimal shooting conditions (they were obviously good enough for 10 of us to shoot) and why I was not able to shoot a stage I opted to not shoot for safety reasons were different, he relented, and agreed that after I completed my morning stages, they would work me into the afternoon rotation on Stage 7.
When I left, I felt like it was a minor victory of sorts, and I headed off to Stage 1, with the rest of my squad. When we arrived, there were 10 of on the stage who had shot the night before, and we arrived to see a full squad (13 shooters) plus our 3 Pro Shooters who were getting to shoot it. It was extremely obvious that we were not needed to help reset that stage. We looked down range to Stage 4, which was our next stage, and saw 5 shooters, and as a group we decided would could grab our gear, head there, and help them reset, so they could get going faster, and by the time our 3 Pro's were done, we'd all be ready and able to shoot the stage.
We walked down the hill, Charles Sole pulled up in his truck and accosted us. (If you don't know the word, look it up, and you would find it perfectly defined his attitude towards us.) He asked us where we were scheduled to be, and we explained the situation, 16 people up there, we were headed to help at the next stage, and he told us that we immediately needed to go back to where we were scheduled to be, and had he left it there, it would have been abrupt, but I'd have been okay with it. Instead, he closed his statement with "or else we can settle this another way." That bothered me, so I asked him if he could clearly spell out exactly what he meant to us, so we knew, and he said "if you don't go where you are supposed to be, you can go right out off the range, and leave the match." Mind you, this was not just to be, there were several squad mates who were all part of the conversation, and I think we were all shocked he would take that tone.
Don't get me wrong, he could have said "we need you up there just because it keeps squads together", or anything at all like that, but instead he took the aggressive, confrontational attitude, and he followed it up by saying that we could leave. That's about as unprofessional a stance as I can possibly imagine, especially for the key guy in the organization. Sure, they had a ton going on, lost stages, finding ways to shuffle shooters thru all the stages, I get that, bigger issues, but telling us we could just leave? That's the choice to handle the situation?
We walked back to Stage 1, pissed off, and it was a hot topic with us, and from us to other squads for awhile, I had three other shooters (and not one I'm related to) say that they don't think they will spend another dime on a 3-Gun Nation match after that display. I had one shooter I highly respect tell me that he would certainly consider it, because he felt it was not the way you treat the people who pay the fee to shoot the match.
Once we got to Stage 6, where things were backed up, I saw the RM, and I asked him about going to Stage 7, or waiting, and bless his heart, he told me to follow him up there, and he would get me shuffled in, so I'd be back to shoot 6 with my squad. That was damn near enough for me to think that I had the organization wrong, at least until he finished making the arrangement and left Stage 7. The Range Officer up there told me, that he caught heat the night before from Charles about not letting me shoot, and he wanted to know what ruling the RO had made. Apparently I should have gotten a zero score, and not been allowed to come back. I suggest that had that happened, I would have risen a stink because the exact same rule should have applied to the Pro's, for choosing not to shoot Stage 1. The Range Officer said he did not make the call, and left it to Charles, and my impression was that had Charles known before we left the range on Saturday night, he would have had the discussion and told me that night I was zeroed. It's not fair anyone should take an ounce of heat for me, and I owe the RO an apology for putting him in the line of fire.
Look, match and organization sponsor's give hundreds of thousands of dollars to 3-Gun Nation, or are at least approached for that level of support, for the magazines, matches, television and so on. I get it, they are the ones who keep the lights on, it's not the shooters, and it's not the match fees, but I'd also suggest that if you piss off enough little guy shooters like me, then all of a sudden sponsors are less likely to sponsors something that people are not shooting, and they are more apt to sponsor the outlaw events.
There are all sorts of considerations I'd have no issues with those pro sponsored, and "star" shooters could get, but when you don't apply the rules equally across the board to every shooter, and you make special exceptions, you impugn the integrity of your brand. Suddenly I understand what the buzz is that I've started to hear over the past 12-14 months, on how 3-Gun Nation has a habit of taking care of some at the expense of others, and surprisingly I got to see it first hand. So it's my choice, I'll share the experience with other shooters, and I don't expect it to sway anyone, people are going to choose to shoot what they want to shoot. Evidently, I'm not alone with that realization, because the match here did not appear to be a sell-out. Maybe it was, but the premier matches, seems to sell out in days, this one either didn't, or did not until right near the end.
Part of me can attribute the bad attitude to the weather, and the added stress of having to deal with it, and the stages that were lost, and it makes me wonder if I should give them a break, and another chance. The other part of me says that with limited shooting dollars I have to make choices. With plenty of good outlaw options, it's just as easy for me to consider spending my dollars there instead.
The icing on the top, was that on Monday morning, I second hand got word from a Range Officer from the match, that he was one of the staff who did not get to finish shooting on Thursday/Friday, and there was a significant amount of staff who that happened to. That's a thankless job, the first 2 days they shot, and were doing a Range Officer class, and then they had to work for 2 days. In any case, with the match running late, and prizes not starting until about 10pm (instead of the scheduled 7pm) those RO's who did not get the benefit of finishing shooting, asked if they would walk the prize table AFTER all competitors. Mind you, because it was late, many people did not stick around, and apparently there were plenty of prizes left. Those RO's were told "no", and that the remaining prizes would be packed up and handed out at the next match. It's tough enough to find RO's, and typically they are allowed to shoot for free, since they work the match, and they get a separate RO only prize table. Considering the match is the big part, I was shocked (maybe I should not be) that since RO's could not finish shooting, that they could not get that little extra token of thanks. Those are the people who worked their butt's off, they make a match, and I honestly wonder if 3-Gun Nation will easily be able to staff their next match out here.
If you made it thru the rant, I apologize. I don't expect 3-Gun Nation to apologize, and I don't think I'll influence anyone else, but for me, what happened was enough to make me consider where I want to spend my dollars going forward. I know others have had some good experiences, more power to them. I know the organization is going to have some fans, hell, some folks still think IDPA is a good organization......either or, enjoy what you are shooting.
The 2016 Southwest Regional was my first full experience with a 3-Gun Nation match. Last year I went and spent both days at the match with Jay Carillo, so I got to see a match, but there is a pretty big difference in seeing and shooting a match. I joined 3-Gun Nation in winter 2014, when I was thinking about getting into 3-Gun. I did not know a ton about the organization, but I thought it was kind of like a USPSA of the 3-Gun crowd. When it comes to pistol, I've seen IDPA matches, and USPSA matches, but I don't see many "outlaw" matches other than some Pro-AM events that pop up for cash prizes from time to time. My point being, most pistol seems to affiliate with an organization that provides rules, and some basic structure, so in theory a match you shoot in South Carolina has the same rules as Illinois, as Texas and so on. I did not realize that much of 3-Gun in fact operates under and "outlaw" structure, with there being all different set's of rules. As it turns out, I like some of the other set's rules a little better, especially in terms of scoring, but I had a very unpleasant experience this weekend, that has me really considering if I'll ever spend another dollar on 3-Gun Nation membership, or on one of their matches, or if I'll just go shoot outlaw matches.
While I complimented the way 3-Gun Nation was able to handle all the shooters who were there on Sunday, especially down three stages. In the past, I've talked to other people who have felt that 3-Gun Nation gave preference or special treatment to certain Pro Shooters, but I dismissed an awful lot of that. This weekend changed my mind, and not in a good way.
On Saturday, I chose not to shoot my first stage, and I fully expected to zero it, and I was willing to take that, because safety comes first. When we made our way to shoot our 2nd stage, and I was the last shooter wrapping up around 8:30ish in the dark, and taking a bad score in some part because I could not see painted black steel targets, and long, low targets in the dark. (Not the only reasons, but it did not help) I left the range disappointed, as the e-mail's from 3-Gun Nation started to come in, they let us know 3 Stages had to be pulled, they sent an adjusted schedule, and finally a new squad matrix. For some reason, we were assigned to the same stage we finished on, and I was convinced it was a mistake. Rather, I was convinced it was a mistake until I realized that 10 of the 13 shooters ran it on Saturday night, but 3 Pro Shooters never even came to the stage, they chose to leave the range after they shot the first stage. My impression was that it seemed like they were picking and choosing when they would shoot, and under what conditions, and that thought did not make me a happy camper.
Part of that was shooting order, our squad had elected to go alphabetical by first letter of first name. Conveniently, B.J., Jansen, and Andy all come before, Linda, Luke, and Ursula (who happened to be the last 3 shooters that night, and suffered the most from darkness. In fact had those 3 shown up, they would have shot, and Linda, Ursula, and I would not have been allowed to shoot, we would have been able to shoot the stage the next day, with a full night for the range to dry, and having the benefit of daylight.) When I realized what had happened, I changed my mind about Stage 7, and suddenly I was not willing to take a zero on it, if pro shooters can pick and choose when they are going to shoot, why not me? Or aren't the rules applied equally to everyone?
On Sunday morning, I approached Charles Sole, who is the 3-Gun Nation Club Series Director. I wanted to ask for a couple of things, I wanted a re-shoot of Stage 1 because of darkness, and I wanted to be able to shoot Stage 7. I realized I would not get both, so I decided to insure that I would be allowed to shoot Stage 7, so that's how I tailored my approach. I asked him why we were assigned to Stage 1 since our squad had shot it the night before, and was that perhaps a mistake. He told me that not everyone in our squad had scores, so it was correct, and I told him that everyone who showed up for the stage did in fact shoot it, and I asked why the other folks never showed up. He did not directly answer, just told me that we were on Stage 1. At that point I told him that I did not shoot stage 7, because I slipped on walk thru and did not feel safe the night before. After a bit of a debate, where I asked why pro shooters were able to choose to not shoot an assigned stage in sub optimal shooting conditions (they were obviously good enough for 10 of us to shoot) and why I was not able to shoot a stage I opted to not shoot for safety reasons were different, he relented, and agreed that after I completed my morning stages, they would work me into the afternoon rotation on Stage 7.
When I left, I felt like it was a minor victory of sorts, and I headed off to Stage 1, with the rest of my squad. When we arrived, there were 10 of on the stage who had shot the night before, and we arrived to see a full squad (13 shooters) plus our 3 Pro Shooters who were getting to shoot it. It was extremely obvious that we were not needed to help reset that stage. We looked down range to Stage 4, which was our next stage, and saw 5 shooters, and as a group we decided would could grab our gear, head there, and help them reset, so they could get going faster, and by the time our 3 Pro's were done, we'd all be ready and able to shoot the stage.
We walked down the hill, Charles Sole pulled up in his truck and accosted us. (If you don't know the word, look it up, and you would find it perfectly defined his attitude towards us.) He asked us where we were scheduled to be, and we explained the situation, 16 people up there, we were headed to help at the next stage, and he told us that we immediately needed to go back to where we were scheduled to be, and had he left it there, it would have been abrupt, but I'd have been okay with it. Instead, he closed his statement with "or else we can settle this another way." That bothered me, so I asked him if he could clearly spell out exactly what he meant to us, so we knew, and he said "if you don't go where you are supposed to be, you can go right out off the range, and leave the match." Mind you, this was not just to be, there were several squad mates who were all part of the conversation, and I think we were all shocked he would take that tone.
Don't get me wrong, he could have said "we need you up there just because it keeps squads together", or anything at all like that, but instead he took the aggressive, confrontational attitude, and he followed it up by saying that we could leave. That's about as unprofessional a stance as I can possibly imagine, especially for the key guy in the organization. Sure, they had a ton going on, lost stages, finding ways to shuffle shooters thru all the stages, I get that, bigger issues, but telling us we could just leave? That's the choice to handle the situation?
We walked back to Stage 1, pissed off, and it was a hot topic with us, and from us to other squads for awhile, I had three other shooters (and not one I'm related to) say that they don't think they will spend another dime on a 3-Gun Nation match after that display. I had one shooter I highly respect tell me that he would certainly consider it, because he felt it was not the way you treat the people who pay the fee to shoot the match.
Once we got to Stage 6, where things were backed up, I saw the RM, and I asked him about going to Stage 7, or waiting, and bless his heart, he told me to follow him up there, and he would get me shuffled in, so I'd be back to shoot 6 with my squad. That was damn near enough for me to think that I had the organization wrong, at least until he finished making the arrangement and left Stage 7. The Range Officer up there told me, that he caught heat the night before from Charles about not letting me shoot, and he wanted to know what ruling the RO had made. Apparently I should have gotten a zero score, and not been allowed to come back. I suggest that had that happened, I would have risen a stink because the exact same rule should have applied to the Pro's, for choosing not to shoot Stage 1. The Range Officer said he did not make the call, and left it to Charles, and my impression was that had Charles known before we left the range on Saturday night, he would have had the discussion and told me that night I was zeroed. It's not fair anyone should take an ounce of heat for me, and I owe the RO an apology for putting him in the line of fire.
Look, match and organization sponsor's give hundreds of thousands of dollars to 3-Gun Nation, or are at least approached for that level of support, for the magazines, matches, television and so on. I get it, they are the ones who keep the lights on, it's not the shooters, and it's not the match fees, but I'd also suggest that if you piss off enough little guy shooters like me, then all of a sudden sponsors are less likely to sponsors something that people are not shooting, and they are more apt to sponsor the outlaw events.
There are all sorts of considerations I'd have no issues with those pro sponsored, and "star" shooters could get, but when you don't apply the rules equally across the board to every shooter, and you make special exceptions, you impugn the integrity of your brand. Suddenly I understand what the buzz is that I've started to hear over the past 12-14 months, on how 3-Gun Nation has a habit of taking care of some at the expense of others, and surprisingly I got to see it first hand. So it's my choice, I'll share the experience with other shooters, and I don't expect it to sway anyone, people are going to choose to shoot what they want to shoot. Evidently, I'm not alone with that realization, because the match here did not appear to be a sell-out. Maybe it was, but the premier matches, seems to sell out in days, this one either didn't, or did not until right near the end.
Part of me can attribute the bad attitude to the weather, and the added stress of having to deal with it, and the stages that were lost, and it makes me wonder if I should give them a break, and another chance. The other part of me says that with limited shooting dollars I have to make choices. With plenty of good outlaw options, it's just as easy for me to consider spending my dollars there instead.
The icing on the top, was that on Monday morning, I second hand got word from a Range Officer from the match, that he was one of the staff who did not get to finish shooting on Thursday/Friday, and there was a significant amount of staff who that happened to. That's a thankless job, the first 2 days they shot, and were doing a Range Officer class, and then they had to work for 2 days. In any case, with the match running late, and prizes not starting until about 10pm (instead of the scheduled 7pm) those RO's who did not get the benefit of finishing shooting, asked if they would walk the prize table AFTER all competitors. Mind you, because it was late, many people did not stick around, and apparently there were plenty of prizes left. Those RO's were told "no", and that the remaining prizes would be packed up and handed out at the next match. It's tough enough to find RO's, and typically they are allowed to shoot for free, since they work the match, and they get a separate RO only prize table. Considering the match is the big part, I was shocked (maybe I should not be) that since RO's could not finish shooting, that they could not get that little extra token of thanks. Those are the people who worked their butt's off, they make a match, and I honestly wonder if 3-Gun Nation will easily be able to staff their next match out here.
If you made it thru the rant, I apologize. I don't expect 3-Gun Nation to apologize, and I don't think I'll influence anyone else, but for me, what happened was enough to make me consider where I want to spend my dollars going forward. I know others have had some good experiences, more power to them. I know the organization is going to have some fans, hell, some folks still think IDPA is a good organization......either or, enjoy what you are shooting.
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 2
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 2
I'm going to set aside the "background noise" from Day 2, because that deserves it's own blog, and I don't want it to be a part of actually shooting the match. I've got to start by giving some credit to 3-Gun Nation for finding a way to salvage the match after the bad weather on Saturday. Three stages did not make Day 2, which meant about 8 squads for 5 stages in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means a lot of people, and a lot of waiting. Handled very well.
Had some good moments, and some bad moments on the range. I finished a fairly poor 134th of 166th Practical shooters, and I think that pretty much describes my overall performance. Of the 5 stages that I shot, and that counted, I had a high time on pistol stage that I shot in the dark, and I timed out on Stage 7, and those cost me, but the reality is, I need to work accuracy, as well as other things if I really want to get better out there. That said...onward!
Stage 4:
This was my best stage for the match, I was in the top 50% of Practical shooters, but I think I lost about 10 seconds for a variety of reasons. I had to get bumped back a couple of shooters, because there was an issue with my shotgun that manifested itself when Linda shot, and cost her an awful time. I'm grateful Aaron Hayes saw it happen, showed me the problem (water in the mag tub had gummed things up, and I had not cleaned it.) and he took the time to fix things for me. Big shout out to the shooter from the other squad who went running for a new spring, and saved me. I offered to pay for the spring, but he told me to pay it forward and help someone else, have I ever mentioned how awesome shooters can be?
In any case, without that "last" walk thru I would normally take, I did cement my plan in my head, and you'll see me hunting and pecking in a few spots for targets, because I was not 100% sure where I was supposed to engage them. Rookie mistake, but when my routine was changed, I did not recover, and it's pretty evident.
Not sure what I did on the shotgun reload, and why I racked the round out of the chamber, and once again I practiced accuracy by volume on the plate rack. If I was a fortune teller, I'd see Dot Drills in my future, because I really need to focus in on my accuracy.
It sounds like big gripes, but it's little things that I can fix, and those 10 seconds would have been the difference between 85th of the 166 Practical Shooters and 47th. I guess my point is that little details can really help me make a big jump on a stage like this.
Stage 5:
This one really hurt, because I made some mistakes, and again, I let myself down with my stage plan. I was in such a rush, I did not respect the steel plates that needed 2 hits, and while I was shooting at them, I was already thinking about moving, and of course I started missing. My splits and transitions thru the ports were pretty poor, not even close to what I did on "The Alamo" stage at the X-Treme match. Poor set-up, lack of confidence, these should have been easy hits for me. Moving down the range I ended up need to rack a round in after the reload, meaning I went dry and did not realize it. (Maybe I need to set the gun and mag's up so that the slide locks back on empty.) Instead of rolling from heel to toe, I was going slow, posting, and just generally shooting pistol slowly.
Now....I knew all of that, no question about it, but I let it get into my head, and dropped the mag and dumped the pistol, forgetting to engage the 2 pistol targets on the other side of the wall. No walk-thru excuse, I damn well knew it, and I just let the other stuff get in my head, and made a mistake. Going from bad to worse, I'd decided to shoot the steel knockdown plates with shotgun, because I love shotgun, and I felt more comfortable shooting shotgun on the move than my pistol. Well, while I was shooting, and missing the plates, I realized I was looking back at the missed paper, so I had no idea what the hell I was shooting at. I had to stop, reload, and shoot, and the time just kept on running.
I nailed the slugs, and while I hate shooting prone, handled the easy, close targets just fine, and had a hard time getting on my sights at the long plate rack. Once I had it, I was okay.
So really, this was a string of mental mistakes, and while I held it together, I don't even want to think about how much time I cost myself. In USPSA these days I feel like I can recover from a mental mistake, but in 3-Gun, there is so much going on that I'm back in a place where one mistake still causes me to spiral down the tubes. I know it'll take time, practice, and experience, but that's not a fun lesson to learn.
Stage 7:
I did come back to the stage that I did opted to not shoot the day before, and this does play a large part in my feelings about 3 Gun Nation, but as I said earlier, that's a separate story. After Stage 5, we had a bottleneck for Stage 6, so I reached out to the RM, and he went over to Stage 7, and got both Linda and I inserted into the shooting order.
This was just a shit show for me. I won't say I was unprepared, I was very much prepared, I just made mistake after mistake, and felt completely incompetent with my rifle, especially after I watched Linda shoot her stage, where she ran the rifle like a boss. Let's just start with the fact that I need to work with the rifle and get better. Bay style stages, rifle inside 75-100 yards, no issue there, but start moving the steel out into the 200 yard range, and all of a sudden, I struggle. I realize it's not PRC (Precision Rifle Competition), but instead of hosing, you need to exercise trigger control, breathing, and know your holds. Things that I guess are either new to me, or I need more time learning.
Next up, when I'm finally done at the first shooting position, watch my pistol on the run to the second position (that is if you can actually stomach watching the crappy shooting I exhibited on rifle). You'll notice several times that my pistol was bouncing in and out of my holster, and by some divine blessing it managed to stay in, and not fall out and DQ me. Aaron Hayes joking thought it was because I got a 6" pistol, if it was a 5" it would have come out, the RO's told me that I must have walked old ladies across the street because someone was looking out for me. I noticed it almost at the end. That issue won't ever crop up again, tightened the thumb screws, and that will forever be something I check on.
I struggled on the pistol steel, and again when I got to the plates, I totally lost all confidence between position 2 and 3. While I know what a good sight picture is, during that run, I thought I completely forgot, and had no business on it. I let it get away from me. That run over was an absolute low point for me.
Shotgun let me down a bit, again, or rather maybe I let myself down with it. I was only too happy to be done with the stage.
Stage 6:
Not too long ago in my shooting past, I would have been mentally wrecked by having a couple of rough stages on things I thought I would do pretty well at. Headed into the "long range" rifle stage, my confidence would have been horrible, and as expected, I would have guaranteed that I'd fail at this stage as well.
While I've struggled quite a bit the past 18 months shooting, I've grown in one spot that I'm actually pretty proud of, and I did it without really thinking about it, or trying. I left the negativity and frustration on the last stage, and I approached Stage 6 with confidence, and I decided that I was going to put myself in a position to succeed.
I did not exactly "kill it", but for me, I did okay. I was 123rd, I hit all the long range steel, and I actually found a groove, and I left the stage feeling like I can do that, and that all I need is a little time with the new Vortex Razor to get comfortable, and start to improve.
Rifle may have been faster prone, but for me I'm not good prone, and from the barricade, I was comfortable. I could have taken pistol faster, but I had seen a couple of people fall (not just stumble) on loose stones that were washed loose on the path, so I was trying to equally pay attention to my feet, and not just the targets, not a recipe for speed. The poppers were done decently, and I handled the shotgun.
Look, I'm not saying it was great, 123rd is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but if I can have a range of 45 as a best to 123rd as a worst, then I'm looking at a finish in the 80's, or around 50%, and while not being "amazing" would be some serious progress. If you look at the last couple of matches, the pieces are there, I've been okay on some in pistol, shotgun, and rifle, and I've struggled in some. Progress for me will mean finding some consistency, and starting to deliver a solid performance start to finish. I'm hoping that Fallen Brethren, just over 4 months from now I'll show it, and I'll keep building a little bit at a time to that point.
Side note? Love the commentary from Jay Carillo and Linda. I felt bad for Jason, he had an ammo issue that cost him his first stage, which would have ruined the match anyhow, and he DQ'd on the last stage we shot. Rough trip to Texas from Illinois for him, but I hope he knows how much I appreciate the opportunity to shoot with him. Even if I debated a stage brief with him, I learn so much about the sport from him, his friendship means a ton. He's a great guy!
Summary:
Match Scores
Some decent, some bad, some ugly, and a moment of personal growth that I'm really happy about. Now just to take that to the next level, and drop stuff the instant it happens, so it doesn't get me for a whole stage, but from match to stage, we'll take the progress where it happens!
I won't rant and rave, or go over all the things that I need to improve, if you watched a single minute, you see what I see, and I know what I need to do. I am seeing progress, not a ton, but progress all the same. Pretty good squad, some different challenges on stages, and the next 3-Gun Major is a couple of months away, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to spend a little more time with rifle during the next 60 days, and see if I can't show some bigger improvement with it. In addition, a couple of USPSA Major's in that time, so maybe I can kill 2 birds with one stone, and the pistol work will help me show some progress there as well.
Last fall, when Les came with me to the Dissident Arms match, we got this clip of him while shooting the all shotgun stage:
On Saturday night, Linda had an issue with the shotgun, rounds were only going half way onto the lifter, and getting stuck in the tube, after she shot, we found a pebble was in the tube, and I was able to shoot cleanly since I was after her. First stage on Sunday, she had the same issue, and when Aaron came by, he found all sorts of gunk in the mag tube. Apparently there was water in the dump bin on Saturday night, and it gunked up the existing crap in there, and caused Linda an issue. Of course after he cleaned it, I shot it on the stage just fine, and it ran the rest of the match. Short version, and why I bring the Les video up, is we got this snippet from Linda...although it was my fault for not cleaning the mag tube, she was mad at the shotgun in general.......
Me? I still love the Benelli, and I want another. Shotgun rocks!
I'm going to set aside the "background noise" from Day 2, because that deserves it's own blog, and I don't want it to be a part of actually shooting the match. I've got to start by giving some credit to 3-Gun Nation for finding a way to salvage the match after the bad weather on Saturday. Three stages did not make Day 2, which meant about 8 squads for 5 stages in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means a lot of people, and a lot of waiting. Handled very well.
Had some good moments, and some bad moments on the range. I finished a fairly poor 134th of 166th Practical shooters, and I think that pretty much describes my overall performance. Of the 5 stages that I shot, and that counted, I had a high time on pistol stage that I shot in the dark, and I timed out on Stage 7, and those cost me, but the reality is, I need to work accuracy, as well as other things if I really want to get better out there. That said...onward!
Stage 4:
This was my best stage for the match, I was in the top 50% of Practical shooters, but I think I lost about 10 seconds for a variety of reasons. I had to get bumped back a couple of shooters, because there was an issue with my shotgun that manifested itself when Linda shot, and cost her an awful time. I'm grateful Aaron Hayes saw it happen, showed me the problem (water in the mag tub had gummed things up, and I had not cleaned it.) and he took the time to fix things for me. Big shout out to the shooter from the other squad who went running for a new spring, and saved me. I offered to pay for the spring, but he told me to pay it forward and help someone else, have I ever mentioned how awesome shooters can be?
In any case, without that "last" walk thru I would normally take, I did cement my plan in my head, and you'll see me hunting and pecking in a few spots for targets, because I was not 100% sure where I was supposed to engage them. Rookie mistake, but when my routine was changed, I did not recover, and it's pretty evident.
Not sure what I did on the shotgun reload, and why I racked the round out of the chamber, and once again I practiced accuracy by volume on the plate rack. If I was a fortune teller, I'd see Dot Drills in my future, because I really need to focus in on my accuracy.
It sounds like big gripes, but it's little things that I can fix, and those 10 seconds would have been the difference between 85th of the 166 Practical Shooters and 47th. I guess my point is that little details can really help me make a big jump on a stage like this.
Stage 5:
This one really hurt, because I made some mistakes, and again, I let myself down with my stage plan. I was in such a rush, I did not respect the steel plates that needed 2 hits, and while I was shooting at them, I was already thinking about moving, and of course I started missing. My splits and transitions thru the ports were pretty poor, not even close to what I did on "The Alamo" stage at the X-Treme match. Poor set-up, lack of confidence, these should have been easy hits for me. Moving down the range I ended up need to rack a round in after the reload, meaning I went dry and did not realize it. (Maybe I need to set the gun and mag's up so that the slide locks back on empty.) Instead of rolling from heel to toe, I was going slow, posting, and just generally shooting pistol slowly.
Now....I knew all of that, no question about it, but I let it get into my head, and dropped the mag and dumped the pistol, forgetting to engage the 2 pistol targets on the other side of the wall. No walk-thru excuse, I damn well knew it, and I just let the other stuff get in my head, and made a mistake. Going from bad to worse, I'd decided to shoot the steel knockdown plates with shotgun, because I love shotgun, and I felt more comfortable shooting shotgun on the move than my pistol. Well, while I was shooting, and missing the plates, I realized I was looking back at the missed paper, so I had no idea what the hell I was shooting at. I had to stop, reload, and shoot, and the time just kept on running.
I nailed the slugs, and while I hate shooting prone, handled the easy, close targets just fine, and had a hard time getting on my sights at the long plate rack. Once I had it, I was okay.
So really, this was a string of mental mistakes, and while I held it together, I don't even want to think about how much time I cost myself. In USPSA these days I feel like I can recover from a mental mistake, but in 3-Gun, there is so much going on that I'm back in a place where one mistake still causes me to spiral down the tubes. I know it'll take time, practice, and experience, but that's not a fun lesson to learn.
Stage 7:
I did come back to the stage that I did opted to not shoot the day before, and this does play a large part in my feelings about 3 Gun Nation, but as I said earlier, that's a separate story. After Stage 5, we had a bottleneck for Stage 6, so I reached out to the RM, and he went over to Stage 7, and got both Linda and I inserted into the shooting order.
This was just a shit show for me. I won't say I was unprepared, I was very much prepared, I just made mistake after mistake, and felt completely incompetent with my rifle, especially after I watched Linda shoot her stage, where she ran the rifle like a boss. Let's just start with the fact that I need to work with the rifle and get better. Bay style stages, rifle inside 75-100 yards, no issue there, but start moving the steel out into the 200 yard range, and all of a sudden, I struggle. I realize it's not PRC (Precision Rifle Competition), but instead of hosing, you need to exercise trigger control, breathing, and know your holds. Things that I guess are either new to me, or I need more time learning.
Next up, when I'm finally done at the first shooting position, watch my pistol on the run to the second position (that is if you can actually stomach watching the crappy shooting I exhibited on rifle). You'll notice several times that my pistol was bouncing in and out of my holster, and by some divine blessing it managed to stay in, and not fall out and DQ me. Aaron Hayes joking thought it was because I got a 6" pistol, if it was a 5" it would have come out, the RO's told me that I must have walked old ladies across the street because someone was looking out for me. I noticed it almost at the end. That issue won't ever crop up again, tightened the thumb screws, and that will forever be something I check on.
I struggled on the pistol steel, and again when I got to the plates, I totally lost all confidence between position 2 and 3. While I know what a good sight picture is, during that run, I thought I completely forgot, and had no business on it. I let it get away from me. That run over was an absolute low point for me.
Shotgun let me down a bit, again, or rather maybe I let myself down with it. I was only too happy to be done with the stage.
Stage 6:
Not too long ago in my shooting past, I would have been mentally wrecked by having a couple of rough stages on things I thought I would do pretty well at. Headed into the "long range" rifle stage, my confidence would have been horrible, and as expected, I would have guaranteed that I'd fail at this stage as well.
While I've struggled quite a bit the past 18 months shooting, I've grown in one spot that I'm actually pretty proud of, and I did it without really thinking about it, or trying. I left the negativity and frustration on the last stage, and I approached Stage 6 with confidence, and I decided that I was going to put myself in a position to succeed.
I did not exactly "kill it", but for me, I did okay. I was 123rd, I hit all the long range steel, and I actually found a groove, and I left the stage feeling like I can do that, and that all I need is a little time with the new Vortex Razor to get comfortable, and start to improve.
Rifle may have been faster prone, but for me I'm not good prone, and from the barricade, I was comfortable. I could have taken pistol faster, but I had seen a couple of people fall (not just stumble) on loose stones that were washed loose on the path, so I was trying to equally pay attention to my feet, and not just the targets, not a recipe for speed. The poppers were done decently, and I handled the shotgun.
Look, I'm not saying it was great, 123rd is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but if I can have a range of 45 as a best to 123rd as a worst, then I'm looking at a finish in the 80's, or around 50%, and while not being "amazing" would be some serious progress. If you look at the last couple of matches, the pieces are there, I've been okay on some in pistol, shotgun, and rifle, and I've struggled in some. Progress for me will mean finding some consistency, and starting to deliver a solid performance start to finish. I'm hoping that Fallen Brethren, just over 4 months from now I'll show it, and I'll keep building a little bit at a time to that point.
Side note? Love the commentary from Jay Carillo and Linda. I felt bad for Jason, he had an ammo issue that cost him his first stage, which would have ruined the match anyhow, and he DQ'd on the last stage we shot. Rough trip to Texas from Illinois for him, but I hope he knows how much I appreciate the opportunity to shoot with him. Even if I debated a stage brief with him, I learn so much about the sport from him, his friendship means a ton. He's a great guy!
Summary:
Match Scores
Some decent, some bad, some ugly, and a moment of personal growth that I'm really happy about. Now just to take that to the next level, and drop stuff the instant it happens, so it doesn't get me for a whole stage, but from match to stage, we'll take the progress where it happens!
I won't rant and rave, or go over all the things that I need to improve, if you watched a single minute, you see what I see, and I know what I need to do. I am seeing progress, not a ton, but progress all the same. Pretty good squad, some different challenges on stages, and the next 3-Gun Major is a couple of months away, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to spend a little more time with rifle during the next 60 days, and see if I can't show some bigger improvement with it. In addition, a couple of USPSA Major's in that time, so maybe I can kill 2 birds with one stone, and the pistol work will help me show some progress there as well.
Last fall, when Les came with me to the Dissident Arms match, we got this clip of him while shooting the all shotgun stage:
On Saturday night, Linda had an issue with the shotgun, rounds were only going half way onto the lifter, and getting stuck in the tube, after she shot, we found a pebble was in the tube, and I was able to shoot cleanly since I was after her. First stage on Sunday, she had the same issue, and when Aaron came by, he found all sorts of gunk in the mag tube. Apparently there was water in the dump bin on Saturday night, and it gunked up the existing crap in there, and caused Linda an issue. Of course after he cleaned it, I shot it on the stage just fine, and it ran the rest of the match. Short version, and why I bring the Les video up, is we got this snippet from Linda...although it was my fault for not cleaning the mag tube, she was mad at the shotgun in general.......
Me? I still love the Benelli, and I want another. Shotgun rocks!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 1
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 1
Theme of the day was simple for the afternoon squad; Rain.
We were scheduled to shoot at 1pm, but did not get rolling until after 5pm. I made the choice to not shoot the first stage after slipping a couple of times in walk thru, as I did not feel that it was safe. The rest of the squad shot just fine, although I did see the RO's, and competitors slip more than a few times running from position to position. For me, I just did not feel comfortable with that.
After Stage 7, we were sent to Stage 5, but it was backed up and we were sent on to Stage 1, there were 3 Pro Shooters who did not show up to shoot it, and somehow, we are scheduled to start on that stage tomorrow. Since the rest of the shooters made it, it's kind of convenient we are set to start with that stage. Those of us who shot it today did it in miserable conditions, and as the last shooter I finished a little after 8:30 PM. I could not see a couple of low targets, and the steel pistol targets were painted black, which was a shit show for me.
After I shot, I was told that since I made the choice to shoot, and I was aware of the conditions, I would not be offered a re-shoot tomorrow. Wish I had known that it was even a choice, or that they would assign us to shoot the same stage twice. Since that's the case, I'm going to argue that I should get a re-shoot on Stage 1, and that I should have the chance to shoot Stage 7 as well. We'll see how it goes.
Stage 1:
No real feedback at this time, I had only 1 hit on one of the low paper, and I caught the no-shoot on the swinger, and I missed a couple of clay's, plus I had a ton of make-up on the steel. I know I can shoot this a hell of a lot better, and the weather and darkness may have played a part, but I saw the steel clearly and just did not get my hits, so I'm owning that.
Let's see how tomorrow goes, 3 stages we "can" shoot, and I'm going to argue for the one I did not shoot, and for a re-shoot, after all, I'd hate to see "special consideration" given to the Pro's, or rather it all works out in their favor that they left the range and get to shoot the stage in daylight. Nah, that could not have happened on purpose giving them that break, right?
No more gripes, I'll be back out there tomorrow, it'll be messy, and it will be fun!
Yep, she did not want her picture taken, all dressed for 3-Gun with nothing to shoot! She'll take out that anger tomorrow burning down some stages on her own!
Theme of the day was simple for the afternoon squad; Rain.
We were scheduled to shoot at 1pm, but did not get rolling until after 5pm. I made the choice to not shoot the first stage after slipping a couple of times in walk thru, as I did not feel that it was safe. The rest of the squad shot just fine, although I did see the RO's, and competitors slip more than a few times running from position to position. For me, I just did not feel comfortable with that.
After Stage 7, we were sent to Stage 5, but it was backed up and we were sent on to Stage 1, there were 3 Pro Shooters who did not show up to shoot it, and somehow, we are scheduled to start on that stage tomorrow. Since the rest of the shooters made it, it's kind of convenient we are set to start with that stage. Those of us who shot it today did it in miserable conditions, and as the last shooter I finished a little after 8:30 PM. I could not see a couple of low targets, and the steel pistol targets were painted black, which was a shit show for me.
After I shot, I was told that since I made the choice to shoot, and I was aware of the conditions, I would not be offered a re-shoot tomorrow. Wish I had known that it was even a choice, or that they would assign us to shoot the same stage twice. Since that's the case, I'm going to argue that I should get a re-shoot on Stage 1, and that I should have the chance to shoot Stage 7 as well. We'll see how it goes.
Stage 1:
No real feedback at this time, I had only 1 hit on one of the low paper, and I caught the no-shoot on the swinger, and I missed a couple of clay's, plus I had a ton of make-up on the steel. I know I can shoot this a hell of a lot better, and the weather and darkness may have played a part, but I saw the steel clearly and just did not get my hits, so I'm owning that.
Let's see how tomorrow goes, 3 stages we "can" shoot, and I'm going to argue for the one I did not shoot, and for a re-shoot, after all, I'd hate to see "special consideration" given to the Pro's, or rather it all works out in their favor that they left the range and get to shoot the stage in daylight. Nah, that could not have happened on purpose giving them that break, right?
No more gripes, I'll be back out there tomorrow, it'll be messy, and it will be fun!
 |
| Linda During the Rain Delay |
Yep, she did not want her picture taken, all dressed for 3-Gun with nothing to shoot! She'll take out that anger tomorrow burning down some stages on her own!
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Cowtown Classic May 6th 2016
Cowtown Classic May 6th 2016
Mixed blessing, after 8 stages I was on the way to shooting perhaps my best ever major USPSA match. I had 2 mikes, both on the second stage that I shot. Sure there was a lot that I could be doing better, but I was stringing together some reasonable solid stages, and I was pretty proud of my overall performance considering where I'm at these days in terms of prep and practice level. Putting this in perspective, I've never had a major where I had less than double digit misses, so while I was not fast, I was at least getting something right.
The last two stages though ate me up to the tune of a combined 8 misses, four on weak hand shooting, and then 3 on swingers. I'm going to have to find a way to work on swingers, because I had one other miss on a swinger on that second stage. I'm not going to cry about the finish, but it would have been nice to finish as well as I started, and it also feels like I'm starting the crawl up again from bottoming out the end of last year. It's not a huge amount of progress, but it's some little things, and I'm satisfied with that for now, one thing at a time, definitely progressing!
A few little things so I don't have to comment on them in each individual stage. There were a few stages where after the first shot I had to tap/rack, but when I realized it was not the gun, it was me. I was not letting the trigger reset, so when I'd try to pull it a 2nd time nothing happened. It should have been evident on Stage 5, but I still made the mistake a few times.
Going back from Limited to a 10-shot gun in Single Stack was a little more challenging than I expected. Here I ran to slide lock a few times, and could not figure why the gun would not auto-forward like the CZ did quite often, and releasing the slide stop was quite a bit harder. Short version, some better planning fixes that, but I need to get more familiar with this gun. Putting it in perspective, this was the 2nd match I've shot with this gun, the first being the Classifier match a month ago. More trigger time will go a long way.
Stage 4:
Had all my hits, had a reasonable plan, and I was able to execute it. Could have run things quicker? Absolutely, but I needed a good stage early on with all my hits to build some confidence that has really been low. This stage was pretty much what I needed, and it was a great way to start the match.
Stage 5:
Here is where I should have caught my mistake in not letting go enough to reset the trigger. The truth is, that I AD'd that 2nd shot, I took my hand off to tap-rack, and the gun went off, fortunately I was facing the target, and had an Alpha hit....God takes take of idiots? I realized what I was doing at lunch time when I saw this video, but I should have picked it up sooner. The gun is good, I mean it's really good, but c'mon man, gotta get to reset.
On the two target array before moving into the port, I took my "non" weak hand or swinger miss. I put 3 hits into the bottom target, and one into the top target, it was close, but that was entirely on me. I took another mike on the swinger, trying to focus on hitting the target between the 2 steel hard cover plates. Again, poor choice to try to take it that way, should have done it on the side, at rest. Being honest, I could have gone one of two ways, in the past I would have carried that mistake and let my whole match go down hill, today I recovered immediately, put it behind me, and went back to work. Six straight stages without a miss after that, so mentally I think I'm starting to show a littler progress as well.
Stage 6:
Had the trigger issue to start, again, and then I had a problem after the first reload. Short version is the round did not chamber, and I could not release the mag, or tap and rack it. Not sure what caused it, but it was the only time that it happened. That issue cost me about 10 seconds or so.
Splits coming down the middle were good, they were what I would want to expect, but I did not see enough of that for the entire match. It's in me, but again, that's going to be all about building consistency as I start to get back to work.
Stage 7:
Whew, no sense of urgency, but the first 3 targets were at 30 yards, and I wanted to spend a little extra time insuring that I was getting good hits. I'll say this, in the past those targets would have intimidated me a little bit, but since spending some time in 3-Gun, I see things like that a lot more often, so no fear. I got all my hits, in fact I had good hits, and probably could have run that faster with more confidence.
Slow to the tuxedo's, but again, got hits, because I had a make-up, I went to slide lock, and had to reload, and release the slide stop, minor error, and I need to practice that going forward, because it's still a bit unnatural.
Stage 8:
Again, forgot to release the trigger...seeing a theme here? That said, I had what I thought was a reasonable plan, I had no doubts on what I was doing, although I was leaning hard, and almost overran a target. I took a risk without the last reload because that was my last round on the long steel, but I felt confident, never thought twice about it. A plus? How about the solid reload going backward? You know.....there's a positive.....my reloads were fairly acceptable all day long, now to bring the rest up to that speed.
Lunch Break:
I'm about to drop so wisdom, so be prepared. At this point I admitted out loud to Linda that I really wanted to win Single Stack "C", and that I felt if I continued to not make mistakes, that was a legit possibility. Not that I was killing it, but no mikes goes a long way. The other part, and this is the wisdom, is that if you want to feel good about yourself, get in a squad of IDPA shooters, you'll feel like a rock star. Granted it's a placebo, you don't know how other squads are doing, you don't know any scores, but in that moment, it's easy to get some confidence.
Just an observation, not saying it was me at all, just a random observation, and that friends, is why lunch is important.
Stage 9:
Bridge stages! This actually was one of my better stages, There were a couple of make-up's, but I was not making up misses, I made up 2 Charlies, with 2 Alpha's, no idea why, but I felt good about this stage, felt like I was going to own it. I almost tripped over the fault like, the ground beneath it was washed out, so the fault line was up in the air, it's something that should have been fixed.
I hate the moving bridges in general, but damn, again, for where I'm at today, I was very happy with this stage.
Stage 10:
Trigger finger? Twice? C'mon man! Okay, not sure about my stage plan, nobody else ran it the way I did, most folks ran straight to the corner, and activated the swinger, before coming back to the opening in the wall and taking the swinger. I ate the standing reload, which is what made me think that my plan was not all that hot, but I did not want to change it up and go with something else.
For me, I did not want to go back into the opening, and take the paper, and swinger, it was steps wasted to go back in, and then come back out, I was able to come straight across and save those steps. Were those steps worth the standing reload? I don't know.
Coming straight across did however allow me to take all 3 paper targets from standing, rather than going to the port and taking the 2 paper to the right, which is what every other shooter in my group did. (Okay, so maybe some of 'em were IDPA shooters, and on other stages had some very "interesting" stage plans.)
Three hits on the obstructed target, so I did not need the last shot, and this swinger I actually had both my hits on, with some patience I can do it, I just need to work it.
Stage 1:
30 targets, one shot each, no worries. Being honest, I was suffering a little from the heat by this time. Unfortunately there were only 4 RO's on the squad, and Linda and I actually did most of the RO'ing and scoring during the morning, and to start the afternoon. I'd estimate we ran about 70% of all the shooters in our squad. Most of the time right after I shot, I'd be handed the timer and had to run the next shooter, which was Linda.
In any case, fairly simple stage, I broke it up into groups of 8, so I knew right where I wanted to go, and where I had to take each target, no hunting and pecking needed. Weirdly enough in Single Stack this was one of the better runs, which probably says more about the competition level in the division than it does about how I shot it.
Wide open targets, good hits, just need to inject more confidence and faster transitions and we'll be getting back to business.
Stage 2:
Here is where the wheels pretty much fell off the bus. I had 5 misses in 8 weak hand shots, if I'm honest with myself, I could have called 3 of them because I broke the shot when the sights were moving, or I did not have the sights properly aligned. This was the stage that match finish pretty much broke my back. Slow with little to no misses could have been okay, but all of a sudden slow with misses, that will end your day.
Stage 3:
Whew, last stage, and 3 more misses, one on each swinger. My plan was fine, I just did not execute. I thought I had hits on the swingers, the three I did have were all Alpha's, so it's evident to me that I understand what sight picture I need to have to get a hit, and that I should have taken a little extra time, and made sure of the 2nd hits.
I'm not making excuses, lack of practice on swingers and weak hand are what cost me, and that's a bummer. I was definitely over heated, I fought some nausea earlier, so there is some conditioning that is readily needed too. I had total control over the stuff that I battled, so no matter what, I know that I can get better, and can eliminate these things.
Just a few weeks until Texas Open, and we're going to knock a few of these things down by then.
Summary:
80% of a good match? Hey, considering it's still probably my best ever performance at a major in terms of "mikes", and the fact that I'm just getting back to this, and getting back at a much slower pace than I set at the end of 2013 and first half of 2014, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I was very happy with what I had done before the last two stages.
Stuff to fix? Hell yes, If you are reading, or watched, you saw what I saw, I'm not running the gun near as hard as I can, I need to pick up the pace, get on the trigger, and get my splits and transitions back down to a place I can be competitive. I think mentally, I've gone to a place where I'm so focused on just getting hits, that I'm taking too much in doing that. Long targets? Tuxedos? No-Shoots? Sure, there are times you have to respect a shot and give it an extra tenth of a second or so, but I'm not discriminating, I'm taking that attitude all the time, and it's hurting.
Like I said earlier this year, it's going to be baby steps. I want to get a little bit better every match that I shoot, and I want to have my best performances come September and October, that's the real target date to get everything back, and start moving forward. This was just a step, and with that in mind, sure I'm disappointed in the last couple of stages, but I'm fairly happy that I'm showing some mental improvement, some stage plan confidence, and hell, there was never a gripe with a reload in this match.
Onward!
Mixed blessing, after 8 stages I was on the way to shooting perhaps my best ever major USPSA match. I had 2 mikes, both on the second stage that I shot. Sure there was a lot that I could be doing better, but I was stringing together some reasonable solid stages, and I was pretty proud of my overall performance considering where I'm at these days in terms of prep and practice level. Putting this in perspective, I've never had a major where I had less than double digit misses, so while I was not fast, I was at least getting something right.
The last two stages though ate me up to the tune of a combined 8 misses, four on weak hand shooting, and then 3 on swingers. I'm going to have to find a way to work on swingers, because I had one other miss on a swinger on that second stage. I'm not going to cry about the finish, but it would have been nice to finish as well as I started, and it also feels like I'm starting the crawl up again from bottoming out the end of last year. It's not a huge amount of progress, but it's some little things, and I'm satisfied with that for now, one thing at a time, definitely progressing!
A few little things so I don't have to comment on them in each individual stage. There were a few stages where after the first shot I had to tap/rack, but when I realized it was not the gun, it was me. I was not letting the trigger reset, so when I'd try to pull it a 2nd time nothing happened. It should have been evident on Stage 5, but I still made the mistake a few times.
Going back from Limited to a 10-shot gun in Single Stack was a little more challenging than I expected. Here I ran to slide lock a few times, and could not figure why the gun would not auto-forward like the CZ did quite often, and releasing the slide stop was quite a bit harder. Short version, some better planning fixes that, but I need to get more familiar with this gun. Putting it in perspective, this was the 2nd match I've shot with this gun, the first being the Classifier match a month ago. More trigger time will go a long way.
Stage 4:
Had all my hits, had a reasonable plan, and I was able to execute it. Could have run things quicker? Absolutely, but I needed a good stage early on with all my hits to build some confidence that has really been low. This stage was pretty much what I needed, and it was a great way to start the match.
Stage 5:
Here is where I should have caught my mistake in not letting go enough to reset the trigger. The truth is, that I AD'd that 2nd shot, I took my hand off to tap-rack, and the gun went off, fortunately I was facing the target, and had an Alpha hit....God takes take of idiots? I realized what I was doing at lunch time when I saw this video, but I should have picked it up sooner. The gun is good, I mean it's really good, but c'mon man, gotta get to reset.
On the two target array before moving into the port, I took my "non" weak hand or swinger miss. I put 3 hits into the bottom target, and one into the top target, it was close, but that was entirely on me. I took another mike on the swinger, trying to focus on hitting the target between the 2 steel hard cover plates. Again, poor choice to try to take it that way, should have done it on the side, at rest. Being honest, I could have gone one of two ways, in the past I would have carried that mistake and let my whole match go down hill, today I recovered immediately, put it behind me, and went back to work. Six straight stages without a miss after that, so mentally I think I'm starting to show a littler progress as well.
Stage 6:
Had the trigger issue to start, again, and then I had a problem after the first reload. Short version is the round did not chamber, and I could not release the mag, or tap and rack it. Not sure what caused it, but it was the only time that it happened. That issue cost me about 10 seconds or so.
Splits coming down the middle were good, they were what I would want to expect, but I did not see enough of that for the entire match. It's in me, but again, that's going to be all about building consistency as I start to get back to work.
Stage 7:
Whew, no sense of urgency, but the first 3 targets were at 30 yards, and I wanted to spend a little extra time insuring that I was getting good hits. I'll say this, in the past those targets would have intimidated me a little bit, but since spending some time in 3-Gun, I see things like that a lot more often, so no fear. I got all my hits, in fact I had good hits, and probably could have run that faster with more confidence.
Slow to the tuxedo's, but again, got hits, because I had a make-up, I went to slide lock, and had to reload, and release the slide stop, minor error, and I need to practice that going forward, because it's still a bit unnatural.
Stage 8:
Again, forgot to release the trigger...seeing a theme here? That said, I had what I thought was a reasonable plan, I had no doubts on what I was doing, although I was leaning hard, and almost overran a target. I took a risk without the last reload because that was my last round on the long steel, but I felt confident, never thought twice about it. A plus? How about the solid reload going backward? You know.....there's a positive.....my reloads were fairly acceptable all day long, now to bring the rest up to that speed.
Lunch Break:
I'm about to drop so wisdom, so be prepared. At this point I admitted out loud to Linda that I really wanted to win Single Stack "C", and that I felt if I continued to not make mistakes, that was a legit possibility. Not that I was killing it, but no mikes goes a long way. The other part, and this is the wisdom, is that if you want to feel good about yourself, get in a squad of IDPA shooters, you'll feel like a rock star. Granted it's a placebo, you don't know how other squads are doing, you don't know any scores, but in that moment, it's easy to get some confidence.
Just an observation, not saying it was me at all, just a random observation, and that friends, is why lunch is important.
Stage 9:
Bridge stages! This actually was one of my better stages, There were a couple of make-up's, but I was not making up misses, I made up 2 Charlies, with 2 Alpha's, no idea why, but I felt good about this stage, felt like I was going to own it. I almost tripped over the fault like, the ground beneath it was washed out, so the fault line was up in the air, it's something that should have been fixed.
I hate the moving bridges in general, but damn, again, for where I'm at today, I was very happy with this stage.
Stage 10:
Trigger finger? Twice? C'mon man! Okay, not sure about my stage plan, nobody else ran it the way I did, most folks ran straight to the corner, and activated the swinger, before coming back to the opening in the wall and taking the swinger. I ate the standing reload, which is what made me think that my plan was not all that hot, but I did not want to change it up and go with something else.
For me, I did not want to go back into the opening, and take the paper, and swinger, it was steps wasted to go back in, and then come back out, I was able to come straight across and save those steps. Were those steps worth the standing reload? I don't know.
Coming straight across did however allow me to take all 3 paper targets from standing, rather than going to the port and taking the 2 paper to the right, which is what every other shooter in my group did. (Okay, so maybe some of 'em were IDPA shooters, and on other stages had some very "interesting" stage plans.)
Three hits on the obstructed target, so I did not need the last shot, and this swinger I actually had both my hits on, with some patience I can do it, I just need to work it.
Stage 1:
30 targets, one shot each, no worries. Being honest, I was suffering a little from the heat by this time. Unfortunately there were only 4 RO's on the squad, and Linda and I actually did most of the RO'ing and scoring during the morning, and to start the afternoon. I'd estimate we ran about 70% of all the shooters in our squad. Most of the time right after I shot, I'd be handed the timer and had to run the next shooter, which was Linda.
In any case, fairly simple stage, I broke it up into groups of 8, so I knew right where I wanted to go, and where I had to take each target, no hunting and pecking needed. Weirdly enough in Single Stack this was one of the better runs, which probably says more about the competition level in the division than it does about how I shot it.
Wide open targets, good hits, just need to inject more confidence and faster transitions and we'll be getting back to business.
Stage 2:
Here is where the wheels pretty much fell off the bus. I had 5 misses in 8 weak hand shots, if I'm honest with myself, I could have called 3 of them because I broke the shot when the sights were moving, or I did not have the sights properly aligned. This was the stage that match finish pretty much broke my back. Slow with little to no misses could have been okay, but all of a sudden slow with misses, that will end your day.
Stage 3:
Whew, last stage, and 3 more misses, one on each swinger. My plan was fine, I just did not execute. I thought I had hits on the swingers, the three I did have were all Alpha's, so it's evident to me that I understand what sight picture I need to have to get a hit, and that I should have taken a little extra time, and made sure of the 2nd hits.
I'm not making excuses, lack of practice on swingers and weak hand are what cost me, and that's a bummer. I was definitely over heated, I fought some nausea earlier, so there is some conditioning that is readily needed too. I had total control over the stuff that I battled, so no matter what, I know that I can get better, and can eliminate these things.
Just a few weeks until Texas Open, and we're going to knock a few of these things down by then.
Summary:
80% of a good match? Hey, considering it's still probably my best ever performance at a major in terms of "mikes", and the fact that I'm just getting back to this, and getting back at a much slower pace than I set at the end of 2013 and first half of 2014, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I was very happy with what I had done before the last two stages.
Stuff to fix? Hell yes, If you are reading, or watched, you saw what I saw, I'm not running the gun near as hard as I can, I need to pick up the pace, get on the trigger, and get my splits and transitions back down to a place I can be competitive. I think mentally, I've gone to a place where I'm so focused on just getting hits, that I'm taking too much in doing that. Long targets? Tuxedos? No-Shoots? Sure, there are times you have to respect a shot and give it an extra tenth of a second or so, but I'm not discriminating, I'm taking that attitude all the time, and it's hurting.
Like I said earlier this year, it's going to be baby steps. I want to get a little bit better every match that I shoot, and I want to have my best performances come September and October, that's the real target date to get everything back, and start moving forward. This was just a step, and with that in mind, sure I'm disappointed in the last couple of stages, but I'm fairly happy that I'm showing some mental improvement, some stage plan confidence, and hell, there was never a gripe with a reload in this match.
Onward!
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